Europe hotel results for February 2012

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The European hotel industry posted mostly positive results in year-over-year metrics when reported in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds for February 2012, according to data compiled by STR Global.

“Europe reported a flat performance on a like-for-like basis compared to February 2011”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “Out of 27 countries we track across Europe, the majority of 15 countries still reported RevPAR increases in local currency for the month”.

Hotel Investors Gauge Q4 Results

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Investors and lenders are showing growing signs of optimism, according to the most recent Hotel Investors Gauge, a quarterly survey from STR Analytics and HotelNewsNow.com.

"While there remains a significant amount of uncertainty with the future of the global economy, investors and lenders in the hotel industry are focusing on the simple fundamentals of strong demand levels, limited supply growth and an expectation of room rates continuing their recovery,” said Steve Hennis, director at STR Analytics.

Key findings from the Hotel Investors Gauge include:• Investors’ return expectations for acquisitions declined to 18.5 percent from 20.0 percent in our prior survey, illustrating that investors are getting more confident in the lodging sector’s recovery.• Developers’ return expectations also declined slightly to 20.6 percent.• The median cap rate on trailing 12-month net income for stable assets was 7.9 percent. Although the cap rate is relatively stable compared to the previous Hotel Investors Gauge, the increasing cash flows and lower return expectation will likely increase asset pricing.• Most of the lender terms remain relatively unchanged from the prior survey. Loan-to-value ratios generally ranged between 62.5 percent and 70.0 percent. The average LIBOR spread was 350bps. Most loan terms were five years.

The Hotel Investors Gauge included a broad spectrum of hotel investors and lenders. The survey is conducted on a quarterly basis by STR Analytics and HotelNewsNow.com.